A Pokémon collection kept in a Woking attic for 15 years sold for £1.56 million at the Ewbanks Pokemon auction in Send, Surrey, on October 21, which IBTimes UK put at $2.1 million. Ewbank’s says it is the most valuable trading card auction held in the UK.
As of October 24, 2026: the seller, a retired decorator, has not been named. He brought 42 complete sets to Ewbank’s, sold 41 and kept one. The best price of the day, £100,000 at the hammer, went to a complete Legendary Collection master set that Ewbank’s had expected to make £15,000 to £20,000.
What sold at the Ewbanks Pokemon auction
The collection was not a box of loose childhood cards. It was a run of complete master sets the owner bought in the late 1990s and 2000s while his son was collecting, kept separate from the cards the boy played with, then filed in binders and put in the loft when the son lost interest. He told the BBC, as quoted in several outlets, that his son “never got to touch these.”
IBTimes UK reported that he bought complete sets on eBay from a seller in Malaysia, who then began offering him full master sets. His first purchase, he said, was a Skyridge Charizard set for about £300.
He only sought a valuation after reading in his local paper that a single Pokémon card had made more than £6,000. Ewbank’s head of trading cards, James Spooner, said staff were stunned by what came in, and told IBTimes UK how the count settled: “We got to sell 41 of them, and he kept one.”
The numbers, as reported
All sterling figures and dollar conversions below are as given by the outlet named. We have not converted anything ourselves.
| Item | Sterling | US dollars (as reported) | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sale total, October 21 | £1.56 million | $2.1 million | IBTimes UK, citing Ewbank’s |
| Top lot hammer: Legendary Collection Complete Master Set | £100,000 | $134,000 | IBTimes UK |
| Top lot estimate | £15,000 to £20,000 | $20,100 to $26,800 | IBTimes UK |
| One set the owner paid about £300 for | £75,000 | $100,500 | IBTimes UK |
| Ewbank’s first estimate for the collection | up to £270,000 | $361,800 | IBTimes UK |
| Commission bids the day before | £825,000 | $1.1 million | IBTimes UK, citing James Spooner |
| Previous UK record, Stanley Gibbons, October 9 | £872,000 | about $1.17 million | Ground News and Dexerto, both citing Ewbank’s |
The gap between Ewbank’s first estimate and the final total is the story collectors noticed. Commission bids, left before the sale by buyers who could not attend, had already reached more than three times the top of that estimate a day before the hammer fell.
41 sets or 42? A reporting conflict
Coverage disagrees on how much of the collection went under the hammer. Dexerto wrote that all 42 sets were sold, and Men’s Journal said the collection had 42 sets. The auction house’s own head of trading cards told IBTimes UK that 41 sold and the owner kept one, and Ground News, summarising the BBC’s coverage, also gave 41. We use 41, the figure from Ewbank’s.
There is a second gap on the top lot. IBTimes UK gives the Legendary Collection master set a £100,000 hammer price; DualShockers reported £130,000. Neither outlet explains the difference, and we could not read Ewbank’s own results page, so we report the hammer figure IBTimes attributes to the sale. No outlet we read says whether the £1.56 million total includes the buyer’s premium.
Why a Legendary Collection set topped the sale
The winning lot was a complete 2002 Legendary Collection master set. IBTimes UK said it held all 110 cards, the 110 reverse holo versions collectors call “firework” holos, and four box toppers, with the Charizard in near-mint condition.
Those reverse holos are some of the hottest cards in the market this autumn, though only in graded form. Fanatics Collect’s records show graded copies of that Charizard, all PSA 10, going for $600,000 on October 11, $576,000 a week later and $468,000 at its October 23 Premier, each price with premium included. The same platform lists a PSA 10 sale at $120,000 in June.
The Ewbank’s set was ungraded, so those slab prices do not tell you what any single card in the binder was worth. They do show why bidders chased a complete, untouched run of the set. Our Legendary Collection Charizard price report follows the PSA 10 sales in detail.
Ewbank’s best sale in three decades
Ewbank’s, a family auction house in Send near Woking, called the day its best result in over three decades of trading. Andrew Ewbank ran the rostrum himself, and IBTimes UK reported the busiest saleroom the firm had seen since before COVID, with YouTubers, collectors and investors competing for the lots.
The firm also claims the national record. Ewbank’s says the total beat the October 9 sale at Stanley Gibbons in London. Ground News put that earlier sale at £872,000 and Dexerto at about $1.17 million, both as Ewbank’s figures. We did not find Stanley Gibbons’ own account of its total.
What it means for collectors with old binders
The lesson in this sale is narrow. The owner bought complete master sets, kept them away from play, and stored them flat in binders for 15 years; Ewbank’s staff described the cards as mint. A shoebox of played cards from the same era is a different proposition, and one auction result does not set a price for any other collection.
Anyone weighing a sale has two broad routes: sell raw, as this owner did, or grade the best cards first. Our guide on how to sell Pokémon cards covers the options, and the PSA grading guide explains what grading involves.
What to watch next
The open questions are whether Ewbank’s publishes lot-by-lot results and confirms whether the £1.56 million includes premium, and whether Stanley Gibbons or another UK room answers with a larger sale. For the month’s other big results, including the 1st Edition Charizard PSA 10 that changed hands at Fanatics on October 23, see the Pokémon card high-value news roundup for October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did the Ewbank’s Pokemon attic collection sell for?
The sale on October 21 made £1.56 million, which IBTimes UK converted to $2.1 million, according to the auction house. Reports do not say whether that total includes the buyer’s premium.
How many sets were in the Woking collection, and how many were sold?
The owner had 42 complete sets. Ewbank’s head of trading cards, James Spooner, said 41 were sold and the owner kept one. Some coverage said all 42 sold; the auction house’s own account says 41.
What was the top lot at the Ewbank’s Pokemon sale?
A Legendary Collection Complete Master Set, which IBTimes UK says reached £100,000 at the hammer, far above its pre-sale range of £15,000 to £20,000. The lot held the full set, the reverse holo versions and four box toppers.
Is this the UK record for a Pokemon card auction?
Ewbank’s says so. It says the total beat a sale at Stanley Gibbons in London on October 9, which Ewbank’s put at about £872,000. That earlier figure is Ewbank’s account, not one we confirmed with Stanley Gibbons.
Sources
- Retired Decorator Becomes Millionaire as $400 Pokemon Set Sells for $100,500, Collection Fetches $2.1 Million — IBTimes UK, October 2026
- Man sells son’s forgotten Pokemon cards for $2M after keeping them in attic for 15 years — Dexerto, October 2026
- Retired decorator’s Pokemon cards sell for £1.5m — Ground News (aggregating BBC News and others), read October 24, 2026
- This ‘Pokemon’ Card Collection From a Retired Decorator Sold for Over $2 Million at Auction — Men’s Journal via Yahoo, October 23, 2026
- Pokemon card auction breaks record with two million dollar collection — DualShockers, October 2026
- Sold items: 2002 Legendary Collection Reverse Holo Charizard #3 PSA 10 — Fanatics Collect, read October 24, 2026
- Premier Auction results (October Premier) — Fanatics Collect, read October 24, 2026
Auction bids are not sales until a lot closes; any bid on this page is labelled with the time we read it. Sale prices are as reported by the auction house or outlet named, and say whether they include the buyer’s premium where the source does. This article is collector news, not investment advice. Pokémon and all card names are trademarks of Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and GAME FREAK inc.; Pokemon Pricing is not affiliated with them or with any grading company.